Requests for proposals have gone out for four major service contracts associated with the construction of a new bridge over the south arm of the Fraser River to replace the Massey Tunnel.

Photograph by: Arlen Redekop
, Vancouver Sun

VICTORIA — Confirming that the B.C. Liberals are charging ahead to replace the Massey Tunnel with a bridge, the transportation ministry is preparing to award four major service contracts for the controversial project.

The sought-after services are for engineering, technical advice, environmental management and community relations, starting straightaway and continuing through to a projected completion date in March 2022.

Bids are returnable no later than the end of the month. Commencement date for all four contracts is Nov. 1. “The successful proponent must be available to provide the services described immediately upon execution of the contract.”

If that sounds rushed, the ministry maintains that well-qualified firms are out there and ready to roll on a project of this magnitude.

The ministry surely is ready to go. It issued requests for proposals at the beginning of October, just days after Premier Christy Clark green-lighted her government’s intention to replace the aging tunnel under the south arm of the Fraser with a high-level, multi-lane bridge.

She first floated the proposal to replace the tunnel a year ago, saying the consultations, planning, design and construction might take up to 10 years. Construction is now targeted to begin in 2017. The contracts aim for completion in 2022, with the possibility of a two-year extension.

Together the four contracts are estimated to account for 405,000 hours of billable time, which sounds like a lot. Spread over eight and a half years, it works out to the equivalent of full-time employment for two dozen people.

The largest contract in terms of time allocation is for the engineering overseer. “The contractor shall have extensive engineering experience in the development and delivery of large transportation infrastructure projects, including major bridge structures, in an urban environment.”

Would-be contractors are also required to name a designated services manager along with “a description of recent and current projects undertaken by the service manager that clearly demonstrates strong recent experience working on major public private partnership (P3) transportation projects in B.C.”

Though the Liberals haven’t said that the project will be a P3, that passage and others in the requests for proposals suggest they are leaning in that direction.

The proposal call for the second-largest contract, for technical advisory services, obliges bidders to “demonstrate experience in technical, engineering, project management and use of project controls in major public transportation projects involving public-private partnerships and other delivery methods.”

No indication in any of the documentation as to whether the Liberals will opt for tolls on the new bridge. But the bids are returnable to the ministry’s regional office in Coquitlam, which is also headquarters for the Transportation Investment Corporation, the government-owned agency that built the Port Mann project and that is tolling it for 40 years to pay for the project.

“Our Vision,” says the corporation’s mission statement, “to develop and implement selfsustaining infrastructure projects for the benefit of British Columbians.”

The third contract is for environmental management and services, foremost among them being ensuring that the project successfully navigates through all of the necessary environmental approvals and permits.

“The environmental manager will also be responsible for the management and coordination of environmental investigations, monitoring and quality assurance in required disciplines including air quality, water quality, hydrogeology, fisheries, wildlife, vegetation, archeology, noise and socio-community aspects.”

The fourth contract is to manage community relations, establishing the public face of the project and making sure it is a positive one: “Create excitement and interest in overall corridor objectives and specific project deliverables.”

The latter assignment may be a bit tricky because the community relations contractor is also expected to “establish regular communication with elected representatives, Metro Vancouver, TransLink and municipal offices.”

Some of those liaisons may not be all that positive, given the widespread impression that the Liberals barely considered alternative regional transportation priorities in barging ahead with plans to replace the tunnel.

For instance, the preliminary cost estimate for the bridge, adjacent roadways and intersections, plus removing the tunnel, is $3 billion, derived from the rough cost of the Port Mann/Highway 1 project. “Could be in that neighbourhood,” as Premier Clark put it at a press conference last month.

As it happens, $3 billion is also the round-figure estimate for building a SkyTrain line along the Broadway corridor to the University of B.C.

Pet megaproject for Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who remarked in passing — “just saying” — during a recent speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade that the Broadway corridor accounts for twice as many trips a day as the tunnel.

Premier Clark might have cited a different equation, namely the electoral math that saw her B.C. Liberals rejected in two ridings on the Broadway corridor (one of them her own) while they flourished in a number of ridings south of the river.

But in any event, the push to replace the Massey tunnel is high on her priority list, never mind how much excitement the project generates in other quarters.

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